We’re making it easier to use wool

Gretchen
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Helping to navigate the innovation ecosystem. 

There are so many people out there who are passionate about innovating with wool. Unfortunately, we have heard repeatedly that it can be just a little bit challenging to find the right expertise and support to turn those woolly ideas into reality. 

Wool Impact commissioned a review of the innovation ecosystem for wool to identify the barriers and opportunities to enable more innovation. This identified the need for a central point of information and coordination support to find the right expertise, capability, and resource support to go through the innovation journey. The Wool Impact ‘navigator’ is here to do just that. 

The Navigator is tasked with supporting innovation that will: 

  • Significantly increase the use and demand for New Zealand strong wool – we have a lot of wool (over 100 million kgs of it) so we’re talking about products that will use hundreds and (ideally) thousands of tonnes of it. 
  • Support a higher and sustainable price for our wool – our farmers aren’t getting paid enough to cover costs so any new uses need to be able to support a price that is 2-3 times (at least) what it is now. 
  • Enable increased domestic manufacturing using New Zealand strong wool. 

If you are looking at a wool innovation that will support those objectives, read up on how the Navigator system works here, or reach out to our Navigator at navigator@woolimpact.com. 

We also have an expanding library of resources to help innovators and companies at different stages. Check out the topics below: